Spy satellite to boost Morocco’s security capability

Security needs. A transfer of the components of the European launcher Vol Vega 11, on September 27. (ESA)

Casablanca- Morocco’s expected launch of a reconnais­sance satellite may be worrying some of its neighbours but one expert said it was part of Rabat’s de­fence strategy to boost its surveil­lance capability against smuggling, illegal immigration and to tighten control of its borders.
“I see this as a defensive move by Morocco to strengthen its security by increasing its capacity to obtain intelligence about what is going on across its borders,” said James Farwell, an expert in communica­tion strategy and cyber-warfare and a non-resident senior fel­low at the Middle East Institute in Washington.
“The idea that Morocco and Spain are somehow going to wind up in an armed conflict is extremely unlikely. Tensions rather rise on il­legal immigration and smuggling,” Farwell said.
“Morocco has had a long con­cern about two main things: One is smuggling and the other one is the constant threat posed by terrorist groups like al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the Islamic State (ISIS).”
Morocco planned to launch its first French-built spy satellite from Kourou in French Guiana. A sec­ond satellite is to be launched in 2018. The French daily newspaper La Tribune reported that France sold Morocco the two satellites for nearly $600 million in a deal signed in April 2013 during former French President François Hollande’s visit to Morocco.
The North African kingdom will become the third country in Africa, after Egypt and South Africa, to have its own spy satellite. The two satellites can take up to 500 very high definition photographs a day and send them to a station near Rabat-Sale airport every six hours.
Morocco was a victim of terror attacks in Casablanca in 2003 and Marrakech in 2011 that killed a total of 50 people and injured dozens. Moroccan authorities have said they have dismantled 53 terrorist cells linked with ISIS since 2014.
Spain and Algeria expressed con­cerns that the satellites would give Morocco a military edge over them.
“Morocco is a friendly country, with which we maintain a very in­tense and fruitful cooperation, es­sential to stop clandestine immigra­tion or prevent terrorist attacks but it is not pleasant that nobody, not even the friendliest, goes around snooping around the kitchen,” a Spanish military strategist told El Pais newspaper.
Algerian media reported that Mo­rocco would be able to obtain in­formation on military installations and troop movements of Algeria and the Polisario Front, an inde­pendence movement in Western Sahara backed by Algeria.
Rabat and Algiers have been at loggerheads for decades over West­ern Sahara, a territory disputed be­tween Morocco and the Polisario Front. They have had frequent dip­lomatic rows and their land border has been closed since 1994.
“Morocco has differences with Algeria, which is supporting the Polisario Front,” Farwell said. “Mo­rocco’s move is a defensive meas­ure to deal with Western Sahara and Algeria but not an offensive measure.”